The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity | Robert Wright & K. Anthony Appiah [The Wright Show]

0:57 Anthony’s new book, The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity
5:18 Anthony’s own unusual identity
14:24 Cosmopolitanism and its discontents
23:22 Patriotism, nationalism, and “legitimate forms of partiality”
28:02 Against essentialism in religion
42:24 The invention of the idea of a national spirit
58:49 Who owns the culture?
76:02 How class conflict has changed in the US and UK

Recorded August 20, 2018

[polybian_bicycle]

There's one caveat about the old empires and them being multicultural. It's true that there were multiple cultures in them, but usually there was one group that was the main group and the rest were oppressed in various ways. The Roman empire had many cultures, but if you wanted to have any sort of political power in the high offices of the state, you had to pretend to be Roman. In that case the whole of religion itself was a form of acting Roman to the point where some of the most ancient rituals were saved in such forms of Latin, that no one even understood what was said. But it was the ritual that binded the Romans together. But if by multiculturalism is meant that all cultures are in an equal standing within an empire, I don't think that is true at all. At the very least, not the rule, but the exception.

[joemalik]

Sensible talk. Probably explains why there isn't a shitnado in the comments, yet.